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Goldman Sachs Says Brazil Will Win 2014 World Cup

We’ve covered a lot about the 2014 World Cup here in the past week, but we never predicted who would win it because that just seems too difficult to say. However, economists at Goldman Sachs have now predicted, using a model based on each team’s track record and characteristics, that Brazil will beat Argentina by a score of 3-1 in the final of the 2014 World Cup, making Brazil the winner of the entire tournament which takes place in their home country this year.

Other predictions coming out of Goldman Sachs’ report include that England will finish third in Group D (with England only having a 1.4% chance of winning the entire tournament). Meanwhile, Italy and Uruguay will move on to the knockout round.

It’s hard to say how accurate all of Goldman Sachs’ predictions could be or how effective their methods are. They failed to correctly predict that Spain would win the World Cup back in 2010 – instead they had believed, again, that Brazil would take the top spot. However, Spain had been Goldman Sachs’ second choice, so while not always 100% accurate, their model may still possess some merit.

Overall, I think it’s unnecessary to try to predict the outcome of any sporting event, much less the World Cup. With so many teams and so many different factors impacting each match, I honestly doubt that there is any real mathematical or scientific way to truly calculate who will end up in the finals or who will ultimately win the entire tournament. For me, it’s much more fun to just go into each match with no expectations or predetermined results. Just watch your favorite team, cheer them on, and hope for the best.

Chris is a graduate of Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia, where he majored in English and FIlm. He has been writing for TVOvermind and Uncoached for two years and has written about numerous different television shows and pop culture topics. Contact him through Twitter (@ckinger13).